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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23939428">Pretend</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ythmir/pseuds/ythmir'>ythmir</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>182 series [14]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shall We Date?: Obey Me!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Brotherly Love, Other, of sorts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:42:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>519</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23939428</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ythmir/pseuds/ythmir</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>in which Mammon likes to pretend to not know</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>182 series [14]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1337182</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>72</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Pretend</h2></a>
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    <p>It was no secret that Mammon is Lucifer’s favorite brother. In so saying however, it must be also emphasized that this was something everyone <em>except</em> Mammon knew.</p><p>It was not to say that Mammon had never heard of this ridiculous idea before but the concept seemed to only fly over his head. Several entities too nosy to keep to their damned businesses sometimes casually mentioned the topic of <em>favorites</em> and <em>most endeared</em> to him, often pinning him at the center of Lucifer’s fond affection. But this would be followed quickly by a sneer, a scoff, a long list of enumerations as to how, and exactly, <em>why </em>it was impossible that the former Light of Heaven had anything for him but contempt.</p><p>Because did not Lucifer often hung him up like a fool upside down House of Lamentation for the most mundane reasons? And did not Lucifer often brand him a scum, a low-life, the worst even when compared to the lowest dregs of the most inhumane civilization?</p><p>Nine times out of ten, was not Mammon often lauded as the instigator of the worst messes Lucifer has had the burden to clean up over the centuries? Was he not often blamed for problems that took lifetimes to unravel? And Mammon would drive his point only further: that maybe the reason he was the most endeared was simply because he was the one out of all the other lords to and from whom Lucifer could exact his more sadistic tendencies? Not even Belphegor – for all his impishness – could compare.</p><p>And if one were to look at it <em>like that,</em> Mammon had a very good point.</p><p>However –</p><p>If one were to chronicle their life from Heaven to Hell, dotted their little adventures, and followed the schemes that ran the universe, two things were apparent.</p><p>One, Mammon and Lucifer’s history was more than just eons shared. Was he not the one by Lucifer’s side when they started the War? Was he not the one who rallied their armies in Lucifer’s behalf? Was he not the one who pulled and pulled and pulled, until there was nothing to be done but to fall?</p><p>And two, to be able to do all that, nothing Lucifer thought really flew above Mammon’s head, and nothing Lucifer did was without Mammon’s assistance.</p><p>Simply, it was unlike the Avatar of Greed to <em>not notice</em> things directly related to what and whom were dear to him. But he could pretend otherwise.</p><p>Mammon could pretend to be the weakest, pretend to be the least scheming, pretend to be the scummiest, the least responsible, <em>the</em> most fickle and insufferable. Pretend  to be the figurative punching bag for his brothers when he was the second oldest by birth and by unimaginable power.</p><p>Mammon could pretend – for only the goddess knows the reasons for – to not know the idea of being Lucifer’s favorite brother. Pretend to not relish it. Pretend to downright scorn it all, for whims.</p><p>Because Mammon <em>knows</em> Lucifer more, than all the others. And Mammon knows the most of the Eldest’s pride.</p><p>And how ridiculous Lucifer could often be with it.</p>
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